


Doomed

by spacepirate



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-05
Updated: 2011-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacepirate/pseuds/spacepirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat didn't have the foresight to see any of it coming while Terezi had known courtesy of her Seer powers. It still didn't make watching each other die that much easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doomed

-Karkat-

Karkat was scared shitless.

But despite that he stood his ground, hovering between the other two trolls with the hand holding his sickle raised. The hand he was trying his hardest to keep from shaking.

She was the only one left and it was his duty to protect her. He could only hope that he looked leader-like and that she didn't realize how fucking scared he actually was. If there was anyone he wanted to impress it was Terezi-- even if his facade was useless because they were probably as good as dead.

Nothing could have prepared him for this. For Terezi suddenly arriving at his hive, wounded and shaking. For discovering that all their other friends were dead, killed by his own _fucking best friend_. For finding the crazed troll bent on murder arriving in her wake.

He didn't believe her claims at first but the sight of Gamzee covered in blood of a multitude of colours convinced him otherwise. He'd wasted no time ushering her inside and locking the door behind her. Not that it did any good because Gamzee somehow forced his way inside anyway and after some time spent scurrying around the hive looking for places to hide, Karkat got fed up with the pure bovinebeast shit of it all and decided that if they were going to die anyway, he might as well go out in a cool way instead of being a fucking wimp.

Except things were always easier said than done and Karkat found himself fighting the urge to run away, remaining in place only for the sake of appearance.

“Gamzee, what the fuck are you doing.”

“Just dealing the motherfucking justice out up in here, bro. Sentence is motherfucking _death._ ” The crazed troll took a step forward, the ridiculous looking hammer he was holding swinging menacingly at his side.

Gamzee was laughing and it made Karkat’s skin crawl. He moved backwards instinctively, shielding Terezi. There was a flicker in Gamzee’s eyes and Karkat felt his blood pusher skip a beat. Things weren’t looking too good for them.

“Dark carnival ain’t got no place for all these motherfucking blasphemers," Gamzee continued as he raised the bright blue hammer.

What happened next came too quickly for Karkat to even react. One minute Gamzee was in front of him and the next he was bringing his hammer down to crush Terezi’s skull. His think pan spun, unable to process the fact that somehow Gamzee had gotten past him and that Terezi was on the ground, her teal blood pooling around her unmoving figure. How did that even happen.

“No,” Karkat whimpered softly as he dropped to his knees, homicidal clowns forgotten and reached for the girl he had tried to protect. He gathered her in his arms as choking sobs escaped him, all pretense of being strong fleeing. With trembling fingers, he wiped blood from her ruined face. _Fuck_ he was useless.

Vaguely, he could hear Gamzee talking, rambling about fates and destiny. Miracles and blasphemies. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d failed.

He should have seen this coming, should have stopped it all before it went out of control. Instead, he’d been too caught up in himself, too worried about what he appeared to others.

“Hey best friend, you’re not listening.”

There was a violent pull at his scalp as Gamzee grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled him away, causing him to drop Terezi. Her body hit the ground with a heavy thump and remained still. Tears were falling down Karkats cheeks now but he made no effort to wipe them. What was the point anyway. He was going to die. Hell, he _deserved_ to die.

“Fuck man, I thought you were different than all these weak motherfuckers but you’re just one of them, aren’t you.” There was a slight note of regret to his voice.

Before Karkat could figure what that meant a swift blow connected with the back of his head causing stars to explode in his vision. Gamzee let go of his hair and Karkat dropped onto the floor. He watched with a sense of detachment as his disgusting red blood covered the floor before him, mixing with the teal already gathered there. He closed his eyes but the image continued to burn in the back of his sight orbs. In that moment Karkat wished he was blind only so he wouldn’t have to see Terezi's eyes staring back at him lifelessly or the blood that splattered across the walls.

So he couldn’t see what his shitty job as a leader resulted in.

The fact that he died last was a remainder of his failure. He failed to protect those who were important to him, failed to do his duty, and so he had been doomed to watch all of his friends get massacred. The pain and self-hatred he felt inside was hundreds of times worse than any physical torture.

With the last of his energy Karkat reached out for Terezi’s hand.

“Sorry,” he whispered through his pain even though she was already dead and growing cold.

Next time, he would do better. Next time, they won’t die.

 

-Terezi-

There was something familiar about this.

About Karkat standing before her, brandishing his sickle. About their imminent deaths looming before them. About him trying to protect her.

About him trying to pretend he wasn't scared shitless.

Terezi had to admit it was admirable of him to be able to stand up to his fears despite everything that had happened. That despite how scared he really was he was still trying to act like a big damn hero. Then again, she couldn't really expect anything else from him. It was the reason why he was their leader despite how much some of the other trolls liked to deny.

Somehow he was able to find her, standing desolate in the lab after her failed attempt at stopping Vriska. She knew he would. After all, the end would come if they were together and the end was so close she liked to think she could smell it.

Their lives were merely records following a predetermined track. No matter how much they avoided the inevitable, it would eventually come back to find them. Being the Seer of Mind, Terezi was intimately aware of this.

So she stood there smiling her smile as Karkat launched into one of his lectures, telling her off about what an idiot she had been and how she shouldn't be ignoring him because gog damnit he was the fucking leader. He was worried, of course, and only hiding it beneath his harsh words. Terezi liked to think that she knew Karkat almost as well as she knew doomed fates so she allowed him to act as he wanted as her final act of kindness towards him.

Until Jack showed up, that is. Terezi had never trusted him, even in their session. There was something about him that just seemed _off_ to her and Terezi was rarely wrong on her judgment of character.

Karkat though, he was different. He still couldn’t believe that his blood brother could have become this monster despite the fact that Jack already destroyed any chance there was for them to win the game. Despite him murdering their dreamselves. Despite the fact that he was about to kill _them_

“What--”

There was a grunt of pain cutting his enquiry short.

Terezi froze as she heard the wet sound of a sword withdrawing followed by the heavy thump of a body collapsing on the ground.

Even though the bloody block in her dream had already forewarned her of what was coming, Terezi couldn't help the grief that washed over her as the scent of candy red blood drowned her senses, suffocating her.

Dropping to her knees, Terezi crawled forward and searched blindly with her hand, feeling in front of her until she found his hand. Her fingers closed around his and gripped tight. Karkat's fingers twitched weakly in what Terezi deducted was his attempt at returning her gesture.

It took everything she had in her to not cry.

"Heheh, trying to act cool until the very end, aren't you. Don't worry, you're a good leader. I'm proud of you."

She continued to kneel there beside his dying form even as a dark shadow fell over the two of them. There was no point to fight back, they were doomed anyway. What kind of Alpha Terezi would allow a liability like Vriska to escape? More importantly, what kind of Alpha Terezi would allow the two of them to die?

Her last moments seemed ridiculously drawn out. It was an age before the sword she knew was coming drove into the her back. Even when it forced its way in her, it took its time to slide through her chest. The only reaction it it ever received was a small sigh of shock as it broke through to the other side of her torso. She could barely feel it.

And then it was gone.

All at once the pain from her wound tore at her nerves. Her knees trembled and without the support of the sword in her body, Terezi realized how extremely weak she had become. She sank into the floor, grateful for the comfort it provided. Her mind-vision blurred and she tried to take a deep breath to clear it but all that did was make the hole in her chest protest painfully.

The red before her was fading. For a fleeting moment, she wished she wasn't blind if only so the last thing she saw would be him instead of this vague scent-image that was starting to stain with teal.

"Karkat, I-"

But she barely had the strength to speak her final words. She was so, so tired. Terezi opened her mouth to try again but this time nothing came out except a pathetic squeak. Maybe it was better she didn’t say anything. Besides, he was probably dead by now anyway.

Terezi closed her eyes against her weariness as finally, one tear escaped her will to be gathered at the corner of her eye before rolling over the bridge of her nose, across her cheek and finally to disappear into her hair. Slowly, she reach out, to close the distance between them--

\--only to never reach him.

Next time, she would do better. Next time, they won’t die.


End file.
